Ordering Content Manually
Manual ordering keeps critical pages in the right sequence instead of relying on alphabetical auto-generation.
When to Order Manually
- Tutorials or onboarding checklists where steps must be followed
- Compliance and policy docs that should surface before usage guides
- Release announcements where the latest item should appear first
- Any section where business priority matters more than file name sorting
Define the Order in Config
List slugs in the exact order you want. Anything not listed will not appear.
{
id: "manual-creation",
label: "Manual Creation",
entries: [
{ slug: "generation-strategies/manual-creation/ordering-content" },
{ slug: "generation-strategies/manual-creation/use-cases" },
{ slug: "generation-strategies/manual-creation/explicit-control" },
],
}
Tips:
- Use clear file names; avoid numeric prefixes unless you want to encode order in the file system.
- Keep the
entriesarray short; split into groups when it grows past 5-6 items. - Prefer
navLabelin frontmatter to keep labels short while files stay descriptive.
Keeping Order Stable
- Add new pages intentionally rather than relying on discovery.
- If you need to insert in the middle, update only this array; file names stay unchanged.
- Pair with
navHidden: truein frontmatter for drafts so ordering does not shift.
Review Questions
Before finalizing your manual ordering, consider:
- Does the order match the story you want readers to follow?
- Are high-priority items near the top?
- Are drafts hidden to avoid gaps?
- Do labels stay concise via
navLabelwhen needed?
Next Steps
- Learn where manual ordering shines in Manual Creation Use Cases
- See how to combine manual and discovery in Pin and Expand
- Review the config API in Explicit Control